Torrent description

Mogambo (1953)

Victor Marswell runs a big game trapping company in Kenya. Eloise Kelly is ditched there, and an immediate attraction happens between them. Then Mr. and Mrs. Nordley show up for their gorilla documenting safari. Mrs. Nordley is not infatuated with her husband any more, and takes a liking to Marswell. The two men and two women have some difficulty arranging these emotions to their mutual satisfaction, but eventually succeed.

"Mogambo" is a remake of "Red Dust" (1932) and is not as good, nor as funny, but it's still not bad at all. Poor Clark Gable must choose between Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. With both actresses at the height of their beauty this is a tough call - but I would have taken Ava any day. She is stunning in this film - sultry, sexy and warm - very different to the flighty sex kitten that Jean Harlow played so brilliantly in "Red Dust". And Ava is photographed lovingly, in gorgeous colour, by Robert Surtees and Freddie Young. She deserved her Oscar nomination.

Kelly is good too as the rather prissy wife of a very English scientist. But she's too nice - Ava is much more real. Gable was a bit old for the role here - after all it was 21 years after he first played it in "Red Dust" - but his performance is strong.

In a biography of John Ford by his grandson he said that Gable and Ford were friends for years, not particularly close, but friends nonetheless. Whenever they were together Ford and Gable talked about working together. Finally Gable got MGM to get Ford for his next film and it was Mogambo.

Great African scenery and animals too - "Mogambo" got out of the studio that confined "Red Dust". Who could forget Ava trying to feed a very hungry baby elephant and a baby rhino at the same time? The gorilla sequence was a little weak - in that the film stock used to film the gorillas was completely different to that used to film the actors - and the actors were obviously in a studio. But most of the work is on location and stunningly shot.

You'll have fun with this one.

* When the film was dubbed into Spanish, Francisco Franco's censors found the adultery between Victor Marswell (Clark Gable) and Linda Nordley (Grace Kelly) immoral, so they changed the dialog to make them incestuous siblings.

* Clark Gable and Grace Kelly began an affair on the set that lasted for several months.

* Clark Gable did not get along with director John Ford during filming, and at one point walked off the set in protest at Ford's treatment of Ava Gardner. Ford also made several remarks about Gable's age and weathered appearance.

* The censors in Spain did not allow adultery to be shown on the screen. For that reason, MGM changed the relationship of the characters of Linda Nordley (Grace Kelly) and Donald Nordley (Donald Sinden) from wife and husband to sister and brother in the dubbed version released in Spain. However, they did not delete a scene in which both share a bed together.

* Donald Sinden (and all male members of the crew who removed their shirts) had to shave any hair from their chests daily, as Clark Gable (who did not have a hairy chest) thought it an affront to his 'manliness'.

* The lead role was originally intended for Stewart Granger but MGM decided to employ Clark Gable instead. Production chief Dore Schary suggested to Granger that the film would entail a long filming separation from his wife Jean Simmons though Granger wanted to make the film regardless and later spoke disparagingly about Gable in his memoirs.

* Gene Tierney was first choice for the role of Linda. She dropped out due to emotional problems which were now interfering with her work.